‘V-plan’ author hits the airwaves

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- Making his first appearance on local public

television, the author of an alternative runway alignment for the

proposed El Toro Airport lauded his plan as the best one available.

Charles Griffin, a Newport Beach resident and retired aviation

engineer, said his “V-plan” is more logical that Orange County’s plan for

an airport at the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The county, in a plan approved by the Board of Supervisors Oct. 23,

would send planes north and east on the existing crossbar runways.

“That’s not an an appropriate way to fly, because you would be flying

into a tail wind,” Griffin said.

Under his plan, a new runway would be built to allow planes to depart

in a southwestern direction. The current east-west runway at the base

would be removed and replaces with one creating a “V” pattern.

Griffin made his comments on “Real Orange,” a weekly public affairs

show. Anchor Ed Arnold conducted a brief interview with Griffin, who

appeared somewhat nervous, shortly after the show began at 7 p.m.

Some public officials have lauded the V-plan as a legitimate

alternative, but the plan has enjoyed little support among those making

the decisions about how the base will be used.

County airport planners have dismissed it and the Federal Aviation

Administration refuses to consider it a viable option.

Griffin and his New Millennium Group are circulating a petition, known

as the Reasonable Alternative Airport Initiative, that would give voters

a chance to adopt his plan.

As a result, the retired engineer has been a thorn in the side of

airport boosters like the leaders of the Airport Working Group.

“I am surprised he has continued on with his pursuit,” group president

Tom Naughton said. “For the efforts of the rest of us working on an El

Toro airport, he’s a faction that’s fighting the plans we’re working on.

He’s not helping at all.”

During the brief interview, Griffin urged county supervisors to place

his initiative on the March ballot along with a measure that would allow

a Great Park to be developed instead of an airport.

“It’s possible and practical and appropriate that the Orange County

Board of Supervisors would place it on the ballot,” Griffin said. “And

give people a real choice.”

That possibility seems remote, at best. Supervisor Tom Wilson, for

one, has said he wouldn’t oblige Griffin’s request.

Otherwise, Griffin and his group would need to collect 71,206 valid

signatures by March 1 to reach the November ballot. The group has

collected about 6,500 names so far, member Russell Niewiarowski said.